well it looks like Dave Lau's never ending search and mine ended up at about the same place,the Swiss Army canteen cup.i like his idea very much and as i still have the canteen i'll do some cutting and fitting and see how it works out.the ability to have a pot to cook in and a cup for hot drinks is great and with some good tape with a string under it i should be able to make a WP kit with a "zip" type opener for ease of use.i will have to remove the bale from the cup but that can be stored and replaced with ease.
great link-thanks!..it's 1AM here but i'll go down to the gear storage in the basement and dig out that canteen!!

Various titanium cups can fit around the bottom of a nalgene and are definitely lighter than stainless steel, although significantly more expensive. Maybe Santa will be nice to you this Christmas.

I agree, some sort of a metal container is critical gear. Properly stowed, the additional burden is insignificant.

Along with shelter, the biggest omission in most psks - foil is OK, but a pot or cup is vital. A hot drink is a massive benefit for morale and wellbeing

Personally I would put a bottle full of water in the cup and bag the food & drinks separate.
Thats personal preferance. Several feet of cord might be worth adding. Just in case I have to "chuck" the cup to obtain water.

I read a thread recently about contemporary foil, even heavy duty, leaking after folding and being unusable for boiling water.

I thought it was here, but my search-fu is weak.

I went with a Ti kettle, just a bit bigger than a cup. Filled it with a Iso-Pro cannister (for my Pocket Rocket stove) and an assortment of tea, cocoa and soup stuff that goes well with hot water. The SS cup Lono mentions is good though, I have one of those on a nalgene bottle in the same bag. A little more weight, no wasted space.

One of the better survival kits was marketed by the Tacoma Mountain Rescue Unit, basically a PSK in a Prince Albert can, which made a usable cup (although I'll bet the rim was hot in actual use). It was just a bit too big to fit in your pocket, but could easily fit in the smallest pack. No longer available, I believe.

i still have my very old Tacoma kit. i never used it and just had a look inside without taking anything out when i got it.for years i just put my survival gear in the pockets of my PFD wrapped up in zip locks and in the last few years wanted to get back to something like the Tacoma kit because it had a "cooking pot".maybe because i was not really into survival issues back then that kit was carried in my pack..sort of dumb because the pack already was full of camping gear.-i'll dig it out and post a photo.

Lono and Ironraven
Thanks for the recommendation. I hadn't seen these SS cups that fit on a nalgene bottle - but it's a clever idea! A great space saver. I'll keep an eye out for them.

One thing that would be really helpful is some kind of SS lid that fits on top of the SS cup. Very good for retaining heat. The cup itself can be used for warming up soup or drinks, and a lid helps to improve the heat retention. I'm not sure if the products you mention have a lid ... but it would be a great addition.

I have a couple of SS cups from places like REI. These cups don't fit the water bottle, and in addition they only have a plastic lid. Of course, the plastic lid can melt if the cup is heated directly on the flames of a stove. A plastic lid is fine if you've already boiled liquids using a kettle, but to save weight in a real survival situation the SS cup itself can be the kettle.

Anyway - thanks for pointing out the equipment!

Pete

Lids... One thing I've noticed several times is that when they are mentioned its all about heat retention (which is very important). However you read another thread and it's all about the procurement of water.

If you only have a limited supply of water, lids are also good to stop all that precious water from evaporating. May only be 1/8th of a teaspoon at a time, but in serious conditions that can add up. So even if your lid is just tin foil with a dimple in the middle I would still want the cup covered.

My .02